It was pretty abject. We weren't good in any department. Individually, it was shocking. Dougie Livermore was probably the best player, which says everything you need to know. The Cardiff game was either a fluke, or evidence that Barmby and McPhee are a class above the others. Leicester were poor today. They hit a lot of long balls and had a few spells of quality, but generally, they were just efficient and sensible with the ball. They beat us because they had more energy and desire. We were gutless, we were second to every loose ball and we had no cohesion anywhere in the side. I've absolutely no idea what the formation was, possibly 4-7-0. In front of the back four, Ash and Livermore sat, Marney and France played somewhere in front of them, Fagan hugged the touchline and Bridges played off the strikers, except there weren't really any.
The substitutions didn't help. We swapped France for Forster, when France was getting some joy through the middle and we were crying out for someone to play as a target man. After their second goal, we brought Parkin on. The only flick-on he made created a half chance for Forster. He then tried to control every other ball on his chest to no effect whatsoever. Elliott came on and played wide, with Fagan wide on the other flank, while every ball was hoofed through the middle and no-one getting around Parkin. It's hard to understand what we were trying to achieve. having ten men didn't help. Coles deserved a red card, although the actual incident wasn't a straight red offence, because there were covering players. He should have been booked in the 4th minute when he took Hammond down when he was going in on goal. The two incidents summed up the referee who was highly inconsistent. Ashbee's booking for a clean tackle was frustrating and downright incompetent.
Coles' sending off came after he got the wrong side of Fryatt. Every Leicester long ball caused panic in our defence because Coles and Delaney either misjudged the flight of the ball or let it bounce and got into a foot race with the two quick strikers. That it happened over and over again was unforgivable. Delaney looked like a top defender against Leeds, but like a brainless carthorse today. Dawson and Ricketts completed the defence with poor performances at full back. They were slow to close down the opposition and wasteful in possession. Ricketts looks like a nervous wreck and miss hits half of his clearances. Even Bo looked edgy. He spilled a cross in the first half that Hammond poked over an empty goal. Their first goal was a simple header from a corner, Bo pawed at it and appeared to push it onto the back of Hammond. The second was a super strike, but it took a shimmy and a pass to take 4 of ours out of the game, while Williams had about 20 minutes to stroll onto the ball and pick his spot.
We lost the midfield. We had 3 men in the centre, but consistently failed to get close to them or win loose balls. Marney was back to atrocious. He made poor decisions and passed poorly. He looked better when Bridges was off, but lost without him. Ashbee also had a poor game. He panicked on the ball and played silly passes. Livermore made the first goal and generally looked a bit better than the others, although he still didn't win enough challenges or make enough passes to cause them a problem. Against Cardiff, we had a great desire to make tackles and get the ball to our creative players. There wasn't the same desire today and that hurt us. We also missed having Barmby and McPhee playing down the middle. Bridges and France couldn't replicate that. France had a good game, worked hard and tried to drive at them a few times but doesn't have the eye for a pass that Barmby does. Bridges can't play down the middle like McPhee does and because of the way Fagan and France play, he was the only one who could do that. When Bridges dropped deep, there was too much onus on Fagan to play right across the front, although he generally played wide. When he got into the middle, he scored a good goal.
We got exactly what we deserved in the end. Going in 1-0 up after being second best should have been a wake up call but we continued to dither and dally. Every one of ours played like they had a hang over. It's probably the end of the Phil Brown experiment. It was too much like the dire performances under Parkinson. Where we go next is up to the chairman. I really think we need to go back to 4-4-2, find a winger or two and a centre-back with good experience and a bit of know how. If we can afford a creative midfielder, then all the better. There are a few who aren't really offering a lot at the moment. Forster's done nothing at all, although we don't play to his strengths. Livermore isn't good enough, Turner isn't good enough and Duffy and Thelwell probably aren't either. If we can clear them to create room for players and raise transfer money, then we should. We need to bring in players with good experience, desire and ability. The Sheffield United car boot sale is a good place to start. Doing it without selling Boaz should be another priority. Anyone who thinks he's replaceable is a fool. Ask yourself if swapping Leon Cort for Turner, Ricketts and Marney was a good deal.
Ratings: Bo 6, Ricketts 5, Dawson 6 (Elliott), Delaney 5, Coles 4, Ashbee 5, Livermore 6, Marney 5, Bridges 5 (Parkin), France 6 (Forster), Fagan 6.